BTS System Requirements

[Mattygerst]

Hi guys...I hope someone can find it in themselves to offer me an opinion/thoughts for my question:

A question for those in the know:

I just got a new computer for christmas & am wondering - before setting up - if the new tower will be able to handle Civ 4 Beyond the Sword on MAX settings - meaning...enhanced graphics....largest maps, max amount of civs, etc. And with my machine - what kind of turn times am I looking at for the largest maps in the modern era?

Dell Inspiron 580 - 64 bit:
Intel Core i5 - (8 MB Cache, 2.80 GHz)
512 MB NVIDIA GeForce G310 graphics card
6 GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
1 TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200 RPM

Basically...I'm wanting to know if I can expect to play with enhanced graphics, largest map, most amount of civs, all the way from start to finish (future eras). And...if so...what kind of turn times can I expect (guesses??)

Thanks very much for your help.

 

[lymond]

Although I've not heard of that NVidia Card (sounds like it's a stock card they plug into commercial pcs - I always replace them) and prefer at least 1G gram, your computer is more than capable to handle BTS has high settings. However, running large maps and ais is not optimal on any machine due to CIVs memory problems and inability to use more than a certain amount of RAM. That is why I rarely play larger maps and I have a pretty nice machine.

In fact, I run BTS at lower settings even though I don't need to just delay the slow down and I play standard maps. I think it looks fine on medium settings. I just restart the pc when things slow down and it runs fine again.

 

[Mattygerst]

Thanks for the input.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

I must concur with Lymond on this one. For the setting that you want to do, you can expect some poor performance in the late game. You can help it a little by swapping out that stock video card for a better one, but in the end, this little formula sums it up:

Fancier graphics + more map + more civs + more units in play = sloooowwwwwnnnnneeeessssssssss in the late game.

It's the game's engine, not your computer's, I'm afraid.

 

[Mattygerst]

Well...

If I, instead, choose the lower graphics settings - and still decided to play the largest maps with maxed out civs - what type of turn times am I looking at in the late game with my new machine? I'm only curious because I have never been able to play on larger than small maps with my current machine...

 

[Shoes]

I think u should do fine i have a intel quad core 2,5 ghz processor 4 GB RAM, and a 512 MB graphic card and the earth 18 (the only huge map i play) runs just fine in the end of the game, though i should mention i tend to destroy a few civs (5-6) in early game. Since i disabled time victory i play till every1 is dead and the one im playing now is in 2100 and the time i wait betwen 2 of my turns is like 2-3 sec (longest w8 was i believe 10 seconds but i had been running both WoW and Civ at the time xD)

PS: My resolution is maxed, but the antialiasing is only x4. Every other graphic improving option is on / set to high.

 

[Mattygerst]

Thanks for the answers everyone.